Jelly's Gold: A McKenzie Novel (Twin Cities P.I. Mac McKenzie Novels) Hardcover – May 12, 2009

Mac McKenzie #6

by David Housewright

Excellent Book

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Fiction, Audiobook, Suspense, Detective, Thriller

Hardcover

First published May 12, 2009

About the author

A past president of the Private Eye Writers of America, David Housewright has published 28 crimes novels including In A Hard Wind (June 2023 St. Martin’s Minotaur) and has contributed short stories to 15 anthologies and other publications. He has earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, a Shamus nomination from the PWA, and three Minnesota Books Awards. A reformed newspaper reporter and ad man, he has also taught writing courses at the University of Minnesota and Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. His name and face were recently added to “Minnesota Writers on the Map” by the Minnesota Historical Society and Friends of the St. Paul Public Library.

Reviews

[Matt]

I am on a series binge of David Housewright’s Mac McKenzie collection, of which this is the sixth book. Housewright explores the life of Mac ‘Rushmore’ McKenzie, an amateur private investigator from St. Paul, Minnesota who is always eager to help those close to him. The engaging series keeps Mac busy, this time trying to track down a potential pile of stolen gold from decades ago. While Mac will have to work a little harder, the payout could be significant. Housewright takes a unique approach with this novel.

Mac ‘Rushmore’ McKenzie came into a significant amount of money years ago, which led to his abrupt retirement from the St. Paul PD. Now, he’s working an an unlicensed PI and helping those he deemed worth his while. Mac receives a visit from Ivy Flynn and Josh Berglund, graduate students who have uncovered a story about millions of gold from a heist in the 1930s, potentially hidden somewhere in the Twin Cities. With little to do and his interest piqued, Mac agrees to look into matters.

St. Paul, Minnesota was once deemed a city where gangsters worked freely ad the authorities looked the other way. One of the most notorious was Frank “Jelly” Nash, who was presumed to have planned and executed a massive gold heist in 1933, though he was killed before he could move it. Rumour has it that Jelly’s gold could be somewhere in St. Paul, though the trail has long gone cold. This is likely what Ivy and Josh uncovered, which will give Mac some context and pave the way to open an investigation.

While Mac is working to locate the gold with Ivy and Josh, others have caught the scent as well, including some thugs and a woman who grabs headlines whenever she does something. Mac discovers a few others who want their share, but is shocked when he learns that Josh is shot outside Ivy’s apartment and dies at the scene. This treasure hunt is now a fight for the truth and a deadly adventure for anyone who dares put some skin in the game. While Mac is eager to find the stash, he’s also looking for a killer who would shed blood to step over anyone in their way. A great addition to the series by David Housewright, which has me eager to keep reading!

While I have the latest novel in the series as an ARC, I wanted some context and so am binge reading the entire collection. Housewright set the stage with a clear narrative foundation, balancing a story from the past and present. Housewright keeps his protagonist busy with the latest investigation and there is much for the reader to follow. Characters stay edgy and backstories work well with some recent developments, sure to impress series fans. The plot is highly entertaining and leaves things for the reader to explore, peppering in some surprises at just the right moments. I have yet to read a book in this series I did not enjoy, which is why I keep reaching for them.

Kudos, Mr. Housewright, for a wonderful thriller that spans two time periods.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

[Marta]

We’re going on a treasure hunt, we’re going on a treasure hunt…..

I got a little bored with this one, increasing the speed definitely helped me finish getting through it. Though a smidge bit boring, I was still entertained somehow. There was a lot of funny moments, maybe because I was a little bored the funny moments jumped out more with not being so invested in the story? I am not sure, but I smiled and inside laughed a lot.

The author included a little bit a true history in the book and clarified what was real and what was his imagination at the end of the book.

Example of the humor:
‘Is your capacity diminished?’ Cop asking someone just arrested.

Okay so it’s funnier in the story, but it took a lot of work to remember it, so fake inside laugh at it.

Read the blurb or other reviews for an actual overview of the book! Too tired at the moment!!

I am definitely hooked on this series!

2.75⭐️’s rounded up for making me inside laugh so much.

Rating and review posted: 8/23/26

[LJ]

First Sentence: Frank Nash was dead.

Rushmore McKenzie was a policeman in St. Paul, Minnesota until an unexpected event caused him to resign the force and become a millionaire. Now, he’s an unlicensed PI doing “favors” when something interests him.

In the 1930s, St. Paul was a save haven for the gangsters of the time in a city where the authorities were almost more crooked than the bad guys. Frank “Jelly” Nash was suspected of masterminding the $8 million theft of gold bars in 1933. Nash was killed in the Kansas City Massacre and the gold was never found.

Graduate students Ivy Flynn and Josh Berglund believe the gold is in St. Paul and want McKenzie to help them find it. Unfortunately, they aren’t the only ones looking and when Josh is murdered, the hunt goes from an interesting quest to a deadly hunt.

Housewright is one of those writers who is just such a pleasure to read. His opening captures you from the first page.

He creates great, fully-dimensional characters and wonderful dialogue. There is violence, but appropriate to they story and never feels gratuitous. In this book, I found the history fascinating. He brings to life a period talked about by people of the generation between my parents and grandparents but he also makes setting relevant to today by including the collapse of the I-35 bridge.

The story is well paced, with plenty of action and suspense and a great twist at the end.

Housewright is one of our many under-recognized authors. Go read him!

JELLY’S GOLD (PI-Rushmore McKenzie-St. Paul, MN-Cont) – VG
Housewright, David – 6th in series
Minotaur Books, 2009, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780312370824

[Susan Grace]

I am enjoying this series so very much! Author David Housewright has created a great character in Rushmore McKenzie! Once again, McKenzie decides to help someone and once again, he helps himself to a nice serving of mystery, murder, and a bit of mayhem! So many suspects! So many questions! Really difficult book to put down and I was always happy to pick it back up!

[Diane]

I'm a big fan of St. Paul, MN author David Housewright (I don't know why he's not more well-known). This book is a fun blend of fact and fiction, with a lot of real St. Paul history in the mix. I knew that St. Paul was once considered a safe haven for the gangsters of the 1930s (as long as they committed no crimes in the city the cops would leave them alone), but Housewright did a lot of research and I really learned a lot about what it must have been like back then - for the gangsters, the coppers, and the regular citizens.

One of the gangsters, Frank "Jelly" Nash, masterminded a robbery of gold bars from a bank in Huron, SD and purportedly hid the stash of gold bars in St. Paul. Jelly was killed in the Kansas City Massacre before he could fence it. The gold was never found, and some believe it's still hidden somewhere in St. Paul. Once again Rushmore McKenzie, millionaire ex-cop, agrees to help out a friend and the treasure hunt begins. Fun read!

[Terry]

P.I.Rushmore McKenzie helps out friends again--former cop who won the lottery always helps his friends. . . .this one pulls us into the world of 30s gangsters and long-lost gold (as in bank robberies). Bit of caper and an easy read. Good way to learn about St. Paul history.

[Al Iverson]

A treasure hunt in St. Paul? WOW! OK, it's a little silly....maybe even sillier than the previous McKenzie books. But, I enjoyed it.

[Nolan]

This has all the makings of a good book if you like treasure hunt stories. Rushmore (Mac) McKenzie gets a call one day from a graduate student who had helped him on a previous case. Were he even a few years younger, the lovely red-haired woman would be someone he would easily fall for. He remains firmly committed to Nina, the curvy woman who owns a bar he frequents. But Ivy has enough influence over him to convince him he wants in on a little treasure hunt she and her boyfriend are engaged in.

Frank (“Jelly” Nash hid eight million dollars (today’s value) in gold somewhere in St. Paul. No one has ever found it, but Ivy Flynn, the redhead, and her boyfriend think they know where it is. They just need Mac’s investigative skills to help them flush out the location. Alas, another highly attractive young woman named Heavenly wants the gold as well, and before it ends, Ivy’s boyfriend is dead from a gunshot wound.

You get a lot of mob history in here—mob history from the 1930s. There are lots of names—name after name in some sections of the book. I thought I’d nightmarishly returned to those polygamous family reunions of my boyhood where everyone tried to figure out which wife you descended from. That’s not a joke, my friends, I’ve been to those kinds of reunions. But that’s grist for a far different mil. My point is this just felt like some bogged-down litany of family group sheets. That’s why this book doesn’t get a higher rating from me. It’s an engaging read, but that St. Paul mob boss history that is crucial to its development made me yearn to a return to the actual plot.

Still, it’s fun to watch poor McKenzie struggle and juggle the agendas of at least three frustrated women. The end will entirely surprise you as to the killer of the young man in the apartment, and no, I’m not going to write here about whether they find gold.

[Ryan Madland]

Jelly's Gold is a mixture of fact and fiction. Former cop Mackenzie is asked to help find the gold that was stolen from a bank in South Dakota and had never been found. The culprit is believed to be Frank Nash.

Throughout the book Mackenzie encounters others who are on the same path. Some for greed and some for other reasons all together. Throughout the book, its a pretty good treasure hunt. Clues, dangers, and all sorts of fun.

What I enjoyed most about this book was the back and forth between present time and back to the days when the gangsters used St Paul as an escape/getaway. Growing up in St Paul, it definitely proves to be an interesting read.

All in all I thought the author did a great job with this story intertwining some fact and fiction. A really good read.

If you haven't read the other books in the series, you could really start by reading this one and not have missed out on too much, but I do recommend the rest of the series as well.

[Dick Aichinger]

McKenzie finds himself help another friend, this one the young woman from the U of M he had met while helping another friend. She and her boyfriend have a theory: a gangster robbed gold bars from a bank in South Dakota and left it in St. Paul. As any treasure goes, nothing is as simple or safe as it might appear with the image of treasure affecting you vision.

Along the way, this story gets into the sordid tale of how St. Paul managed to become a safe haven for gangsters in the '30s as long as they didn't cause trouble within the city. For me, as interesting as the tale presented in the story was, overall it was bogged down by the focus on that part of the story and tying it to the present. It was still enjoyable, though not ranking with the others so far in the series.

[Mark Lieberman]

It's 2008, and McKenzie is on a treasure hunt for "Jelly's Gold". Jelly was a criminal who died back in the 30's, and may or not have stashed stolen gold. McKenzie does a lot of research on the criminal activities of Jelly and all of his associates.

Along with McKenzie, there are others who are also interested in it. Of course, people are killed and McKenzie keeps feeding suspects to Lt. Bobby Dunston (his best friend and one of the top homicide cops). It was funny because at the end, all the interested parties wind up at an open house, but they are really there to see if the gold is indeed buried in a home office. You will need to read to see what the final outcome is!

It was a different type of plot, and just like all the prior books, I really enjoyed it.

[Greg]

For the record, I like the McKenzie series. They aren't densely complicated mysteries. They remind me of the Spenser series - great lead character, a bevy of supporting characters, and an author who loves his surroundings (Boston for Parker, the Twin Cities for Housewright).

I usually rate the individual books three or four stars. I downgraded this one given it's choppiness. Housewright tries to shoehorn a gangster story into this mystery, and it disrupts the plot's flow. Also the one-time supporting characters are....a bit much....this time out.

The book is a creative attempt to drive the series in a different direction. To me, it's a bit of noble failure.

[Becky]

The mysteries/thrillers I like tend to educate me about history or paint a clear picture of a locale or both. Like this one ... I enjoy the smart-alecky main character and the idiosyncratic secondary characters. I was distressed a bit by ALL the names that came into play, not only in the historical context but also in the cast of characters seeking the treasure. There were also some awkward attempts to present the historical information in the context of the contemporary story. But all in all, this was a rollicking good story.

[Jill]

Reading out of order which is OK to do but would be better in order. This takes place in the St. Paul area so we know a little about some of the actual places the author is talking about. "Jelly" Nash was a gangster in the 1930's when St Paul was a "safe" place to be staying, if the gangsters didn't commit crimes while they were there. There are friends of McKenzie who believe that Jelly hid the gold in St. Paul so they ask for his help. Mystery, murder, and surprises make it an interesting book to enjoy.

[Jon]

I just discovered this local author (I'm in Minneapolis, he's in St. Paul) and I wonder how I managed never to have heard of him. He's written about fifteen of these books, and he's won the Edgar. In any case, this is a very entertaining treasure-hunt, as the detective is hired to help find 800 pounds of gold that were stolen during the hey-day of gangsterism in St. Paul and never recovered. The dialogue is snappy, the history is accurate, the detective is smart and likable, and the interest never flags. I'll be reading more of these.

[M. Sprouse]

David Housewright's Mckenzie series is beyond excellent. Rushmore McKenzie a protagonist you've been looking for: witty, fun and with a moral compass. He is rough, tough and hard to bluff. I've read all six and this is definitely in the top two. What intrigued me was that the mystery reaches into St. Paul's past, with the answers hidden for decades. Housewright shows an amazing capacity for fun and the confidence to pull it off. This is one of the best books I've read this year.

[Darcy]

I loved the back story to this one, gangsters of old and gold, it made me not want to stop listening to the book, to see if/when they find the gold. Things did get complicated along the way, the gold seekers weren't great people. It was fun to see Mackenzie wade through all the crap to get to the heart of what happened. It seems like much of what was discovered will be kept secret, which is sad, but also understandable. But at least Mackenzie knows the truth.

[Beth]

Didn’t like this one quite as much as the others. This was probably because I didn’t like most of the characters. Mac had endless (and I think cluelessly and frustratingly) compassion for one of the young women who I never liked and thought she was undeserving of the grace he showed her. The ending was very good, but the truth about the gold was still a bit of a letdown.

[Steve Payne]

I thoroughly enjoyed the book even though, or perhaps because of it being an unapologetic "borrowing" of The Maltese Falcon. The movie version would be easy to cast, Humphrey Bogart as McKenzie, Peter Lorre as Boston, Mary Astor as Heavenly...you get the picture. The history of St. Paul and descriptions of the buildings and surrounding area add a lot to the story.

[Marcy]

Too Many Characters

I really enjoy the Mac McKenzie series but I had a hard time getting through this one. There were too many characters to keep straight. Also, I felt like I was back in high school history class. I’m sure the people who call St. Paul home would be very interested in “the good old days” of the city but I found it kind of dull.

[Larry]

McKenzie volunteers to help a woman find over 8 million dollars in gold that went missing from a 1930’s robbery. Turns out there are several more people doing the same, some for other reasons. An interesting mix of fact and fiction with several twists and turns both in the present and the past. Another great addition to the series.

[Debra]

This wasn't just a fun to watch the characters book, but also an interesting dive into the gangster years in St. Paul, Minnesota. I have heard bits and pieces about those times having grown up in Minnesota, but this was fun and has sparked my curiosity in to finding out more a bout them.

A good plot and a good ending.

[Jameson Sevelius]

This was a fun read. A mix of fact and fiction and a treasure hunt. It is set in Saint Paul and the author did not disappoint with Saint Paul trivia, locale, and folklore. I enjoyed this book a lot even if it was silly. I learned a bit more about the gangster era of my home town and enjoyed when a restaurant or street name was used not only with accuracy but with devotion.

Fun book.

[T.G. Wolff]

One of my favorite McKenzie novels, this brings the mobster history of the Twin Cities into a modern story. McKenzie can't keep himself out of trouble for trying. Okay, he doesn't try all that hard. Which is why I keep reading him.

[Rita]

A solid 4 stars. I always enjoy Housewright's McKenzie novels. The books are full of true, historical facts and the characters are lively, witty and charming. The "Thugs" as well as the "Good Guys".
Very entertaining and a quick read.

[Annette Meier]

Living in/near the community this series is written in, makes it so much fun because I know exactly where they are describing. This story of gangsters and hidden treasure is age-old, but still exciting - especially when it happens in your own back yard!

[Jerry King]

2009 pretty good

[Edward]

Interesting read, I was never quite able to guess the actual killer until the denouement.

[Julie]

Thought I wouldn't be that interested in this topic but now would enjoy going on a gangsters tour of St Paul.

[Marcia Schilling]

I'm enjoying this series very much. I love the main character very much. He has a way about him that your got to love.